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6 Tips for Real Estate Agents for Responsive Website Design

6 Tips for Real Estate Agents for Responsive Website DesignMake sure your responsive real estate web design has all the essential features!

Now that the majority of real estate clients use a mobile device at some point during their home search (a whopping 89%, according to a recent report from Google!), real estate agents are turning to responsive website design to ensure their customers have a positive online experience. Modern real estate customers are accustomed to browsing through properties online wherever and whenever they have a free minute to spare. If your website is not designed to perform flawlessly on every type of mobile device, these motivated customers will find a more mobile-friendly site to turn to. We’ve identified 6 tips for real estate agents for responsive website design that will help you make the switch to your new and improved site. Just follow these tips and you’ll be good to go!

  1. Make sure your responsive real estate website provides easy navigation on mobile
    When your customers are searching properties on the go, they don’t have the patience to fumble with sites that are difficult to navigate. Make sure that every element on your website is designed to work with mobile:

    • Use large, easy to tap buttons so users can easily navigate with thumbs
    • Make sure users can navigate through your whole real estate site by touch
    • Eliminate drop down menus and pop-up windows; they don’t always work well on mobile devices
  2. Ensure that your real estate website resizes itself to fit any device
    Here’s where the “responsive” part of your website comes into play: all the elements on your responsive web design should automatically flow and adjust to fit the device on which they are being viewed. Critical elements include:

    • Viewing Alignment: To insure your real estate customers can see every detail of your listings, your site should adjust to allow portrait or landscape viewing.
    • Text Resizing: Text should adjust to the best viewing size so visitors can easily read listing information without the need to zoom
    • Content Scrolling: Content should flow to fill viewport so visitors can see all the details of your listings by scrolling down, with no need to scroll from side to side
  3. Modify your SEO for mobile search
    Mobile real estate customers are increasingly using voice searches rather than typing their queries. As a result, mobile search terms are becoming more conversational. To ensure your real estate website is found by mobile customers, you need to incorporate these new search parameters into your responsive real estate web design. Adjust your keyword selections to include long-tail keywords and commonly used real estate search phrases. Don’t forget to include ALT tags on your images – these tags can significantly raise your website’s ranking in mobile searches.
  4. Optimize your photos so they show your properties to their best advantage
    Whether they are viewing your website on a desktop or a mobile device, your visitors want to get the best possible look at your listings. Include large, high quality photos that resize to the correct size for the device they are being viewed on, without stretching, pinching, or distortions of any kind. Use large, full color photos that clearly display your listings to catch mobile viewers’ attention.
  5. Provide fluid real estate lead generating forms
    Since your web forms are one of the primary ways to generate real estate leads online, you need them to provide easy usability no matter what device visitors are using. Double-check all elements to ensure they function perfectly when accessed by a variety of devices:

    • Drop-down menus and radio buttons should be easily clickable
    • Form fields should instantly resize to fit portrait and landscape modes
    • Submit and clear buttons should be easy to see and access
    • Make sure important contact info (name and email) are captured first
    • Provide shorter forms for smartphone users, just enough information so you can contact them
  6. Create responsive property detail pages
    Visitors perform different actions depending on the device they are using to view your website; your pages should adjust to reflect this:

    • Smartphone users: Typically view real estate websites while on the move; your property detail pages should feature photos of listings with addresses and links to mapping features to encourage viewers to visit properties in person. Include click-to-call functions to make it easy for viewers to schedule appointments.
    • Tablet users: Primarily use their devices to browse properties from home or stationary locations; design your property pages with galleries of photos to encourage browsing. Tablets are ideal for video viewing, so be sure to include video tours of your best properties.

If you need some assistance making the transition to a responsive real estate web design, the design gurus at For Sale Marketing are here to help! We will create a responsive real estate website that has everything it needs to become the heart of your real estate interactive marketing strategies: lead generating web forms, easily accessible property listings, a real estate blog, and more.

Click here or contact For Sale Marketing today at 954-779-2801 for a responsive real estate website design with all the features your mobile visitors are looking for!